Lamisha Serf-Walls

Back On Track

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Over the last year or so I have attempted to work some type of fitness into my daily routine as much as possible.  Some weeks I do really well while during others I am lucky to fit a 20 minute walk in an entire week.  Needless to say I have not been very consistent or motivated.  While my weight hasn’t fluctuated all that much despite the lack of activity, I am beginning to see a difference in how I feel, both in regards to my mental focus (or lack there of) and energy and it is not a positive difference at all.  I find myself fatigued much of the time and while my to do list continues to grow, my motivation continues to plummet.  This weekend I was reminded that I need to refocus my health goal and set a new intention to create (and stick to) a fitness regime.

One of my most basic issues with setting a plan surprisingly is that I have been working on being in the flow of life.  Instead of setting a schedule and stressing over every detail, I am sort of letting life take me where it chooses to some degree.  I am learning that this method only works with some things, and perhaps fitness is not one of these areas.  If I am honest with myself (and you) “flowing with life” is probably an excuse I have come up with to make me feel better about not exercising as much as I need to.  I know I have not made my own fitness regime a priority in my life and while it isn’t always my favorite thing to do, I need to make the time for it again.

How do you make time?

I have always believed that we make the time for the things that are important to us, but in a world where we wear many hats, how can you make the time for all that you need and want to do?  Sometimes it seems impossible.

I could give you a million reasons why I don’t work out, how it doesn’t fit into my schedule, or why it is just difficult to stick to, but I won’t.  Instead I will tell you why making time for fitness and any other task that is part of your dream is important.

There will always be something else to do instead of your craft (or any goal or dream you may have) and you may very well find a way to rationalize why the other thing is more important at that moment, but if your dream is worth achieving you must make the time for it.  No.Matter.What.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be every day, but if you create a schedule, stick to it.  (This goes for me and my fitness schedule as well.)  If writing a book is important and you are ready to achieve that dream, set a writing schedule.  If you want to make your dreams a reality, they aren’t going to magically appear, just as I am not going to wake up one morning and suddenly be able to run a mini-marathon, believe me if this was true, I would have run several by now.

We must prioritize the things that are important to us.  If you are like me, you have a list a mile long of things you want to accomplish in a day, but the reality is that even with an unlimited number of hours in a day, you still wouldn’t complete everything.  Prioritizing is a must, but I think the most important thing to do is to is remember we are human.

Life happens.

There will be times when we get distracted and fall out of our routines.  It happens, and the best we can do is flow with what comes and get back to what is important to us.  That is exactly what I am intending to do.  I am getting back to a peaceful mind, energetic body, and creative soul through exercise and meditation.  And while it will require me to rethink how I spend my time (especially since I am blogging again), making time for meditation and exercise is essential for the rest of my dreams to become reality.

With so many responsibilities in our day-to-day lives, we often forget to take care of ourselves and our needs.  Now is the time to change that.  I encourage you to look at your dreams and goals and without judgement, see where you can fit more time to those things that bring you joy, so you too can be that much closer to making your dreams a reality.

What do you want to make more time for?

What can you do now???

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It isn’t often that dreams happen overnight.  If it were that easy, everyone would have accomplished their dreams long ago.  The reality is that any goal, dream, or aspiration takes time, patience, planning, and a lot of hard work.  I have often felt stuck or frustrated because my dreams weren’t materializing as quickly as I would like and it seemed that even taking the first step was more difficult than I thought it would be.  So I often ask myself the question, “What do you do when you are waiting for the pieces to fall into place?”

What can you do NOW?

The first thing I did when I realized (and realized again) that life coaching was the path for me, was a lot of research.  I looked at websites for different life coaches to see what it was all about, even though I had a vague understanding of what the job entailed, I wanted to see how others were doing it.  So I scoured the internet for as many life coach as I could find.  This just happened to be right around the time we were planning on moving to SC, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to see if there were any life coaches in the area we were moving to and see if maybe they could use some help in their business.  I learned very quickly life coaching isn’t really that type of business.  I did, however find one woman who was willing to speak with me regarding her experience with her business and the training she went through before starting her business.  After speaking with her I thought I would feel inspired and motivated to keep moving forward, but what I felt was the exact opposite.  I realized the first person I spoke to was in it purely for the money, ironically enough it can be a tough business to be in for the money.

While I was slightly discouraged, the passion for helping people achieve their dreams didn’t stop.  So I kept talking about my dream with some of my friends and realized my best friend knew not one, but two life coaches.  She was able to connect me with one that was able to explain to me her process, training, and overall business and the conversation was wonderful.  I left the conversation feeling more empowered, more excited, and more motivated than I had been before.  I was on my way.

Many months passed with our move and settling into a new area and I began to feel stuck again.  Now I knew what I was meant to do, and I really just wanted to jump right in and do it.  I was mentally ready to begin my training courses, however I had no idea what programs would be best, what the cost would entail etc.  So the next logical step was to research the programs and find the best one for me.  It took me a few weeks to read through the different program options and weigh all of the pros and cons, but I finally found the program for me.  The next step would be to get the money together to begin the courses so I could keep moving forward, but one of my goals along this process is to limit any new debt and to ensure that when I begin my programming I have paid off as much as possible.  Incurring new debt for this purpose was not something I wanted to do.  So, I made a decision to spend some time paying down some of my debt first, and then beginning my program a bit later.  A task that requires a lot of patience and faith.

So that is where I am today.  Part of beginning this blog was the result of the thought…What can I do NOW??  I needed to be able to reach out to people to motivate, inspire, and empower them even if I couldn’t do it through life coaching…yet.  It has certainly allowed me to feel better about moving forward, bit by bit, to reach my goals and while there are still some days when I want to just throw my plans to the side and dive right in, I know that my planning and patience will benefit me in the long run.

The moral of this story is this: Even if you feel you can’t jump right into your goal, find something you can do today that will put you a little bit closer to it and keep you inspired to continue moving forward.  If you want to write a book (one of my dreams), maybe you can begin with writing one page a day.  What ever your dream may be, thee is always something you can do today.  You just have to figure out what that is.

I am a reformed believer that there is always something you can do to put you closer to your goals no matter how far away they may seem.  Each step makes a huge difference and will keep you on right track.

My question for you today is this: What can you do today to put you a little bit closer to your dream?

It’s just a phase

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Recently bedtime in my house has been anything but peaceful as my partner and I have struggled to get our 2-year-old to fall asleep in his own bed.  Our night-time routine begins just like every other night with a bath, story, and cuddles, and after the lights go out we spend the next 2-2 1/2 hours trying to coax our little one to sleep.  Each night I try to figure him out as I wonder if maybe he just isn’t tired or he napped too long that day and each night as I ask my partner (the logical one in our house) for a solution she reminds me as she has many times before..it’s just a phase.

That thought stuck with me tonight as I tried desperately to find the solution (again) to our bedtime challenge and as my mind wandered and I allowed the words to sink in, I realized we are all going through our own phases.

Our lives are composed of a chain of phases starting from the time we are born up through adulthood.  Some phases come and go, while others stick around for much longer and there are times when people tend to get stuck in one particular phase for the rest of their lives without growing into the next.

It’s all a part of life.

Many times in my life I have felt stuck, wanting so badly to move forward without knowing how or why.  I have been frustrated, confused, angry, and just plain worn out from the fight between where I am and where I want to be.  I have often felt like I was standing in one place as I watched my dreams float on by, wondering if I could ever get unstuck and catch up with them.  Looking back what was really happening is that I didn’t know I was going through a phase and while I’m not entirely sure what that particular phase was, I now know if I had embraced it as opposed to fighting it, I probably would have moved through it much faster than I actually did.

This year alone I have felt stuck more times than I care to count in regards to moving forward with my life coach training.  It felt that the resources and money just weren’t there, yet every avenue I attempted in order to create the income I needed were leaving me empty-handed and confused.  I began questioning my path and wondered if the Universe was simply leading me in a different direction.  When I listened to my heart, I found I wasn’t being lead in a different direction entirely.  Instead I realized there were a few other things I needed to do before I could continue on my path.

I realized that this is just a phase.  Just as my 2-year-old will learn to fall asleep on his own, I too will get the resources together to begin my life coach training and move into a new phase. Somehow just realizing it is a phase makes me feel better about it and allows me to feel less stuck.

You have probably gone through (or are going through) your own phases.  Maybe you too felt stuck in one place as you continued to fight your way forward toward something you wanted in your life and it has left you feeling confused, frustrated, and just plain tired.

The thing about phases is you don’t always know the name, or how long they will last, but if you go with the flow instead of fighting it, it just might pass by faster than you think.  Don’t allow a plateau in your growth to spoil your inspiration or motivation for achieving your dreams and most of all don’t question what you know in your heart you are meant to do.

Sometimes instead of saying not this, the Universe is simply saying not yet.  

What brings you joy?

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If money wasn’t an issue and you could do anything as your career or job, what would it be?

I have probably asked that question to 100 different people.  Sometimes I ask out of pure curiosity, while other times I am hoping to inspire.  Most of the people I ask are miserable at their current job and yet they feel as if they have no other choice.  It is easy to feel that way, especially in this economy where jobs are scarce and you feel lucky just to be working.  Typically the answers I get are thought of as hobbies or interests, but if you dig a little deeper they are things these individuals would do simply for the joy it brings them.

Once I get an answer to the first question, I follow-up with this.  Well why aren’t you doing that?  I generally get a laundry list of reasons why they can’t, won’t, don’t have the time/money/resources etc. to do the things that bring them joy.  It is at that moment I realize most people aren’t doing things that they love because they have grown to believe that it isn’t worthwhile.  Some believe doing something for the simple joy of it is a waste of time and might just be a little selfish.

I couldn’t disagree more.  I believe we are all meant to do the things that bring us joy and the more we do it, the happier we are.  So why do we believe that our happiness is wrong?

If someone asked me the same question I have asked so many (and believe me I have asked myself many times), I would say this: I want to help people find their joy and inspire, empower, and encourage them to do the things they didn’t think they could do.  I have done this in many ways throughout my life through coaching high school kids, encouraging my friends and co-workers, but I decided I wanted something more.  I am now choosing to allow my joy to become my career as a life coach, (in the not too distant future), and I can’t wait to go to “work” loving what I do every single day. (I will share more about how I decided that life coaching was for me in another post, stay tuned.)

I believe in doing things that bring us joy and happiness.  I believe in the magical essence of dreams fulfilled and wishes coming true, but most of all, I believe each one of us have the ability and opportunity to do the things make us happy, but like with everything else in life, it is a choice.  You make the choice to give yourself permission to be happy.  You make the choice to dream.  You make the choice to set an intention to do work you love and believe that the money and everything else that is needed will follow.  What do you choose?  A guaranteed mediocre future, or the unknown with more possibilities for happiness than you can even imagine?

With that said my question to you is this…If money wasn’t an issue and you could do anything as your career/job, what would it be and are you doing it?  Leave me a comment, I would love to know!